The All India Congress Committee (AICC)’s highest decision-making body, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), will meet in Ahmedabad on February 28, in what is being seen as its attempt to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah in their home turf of Gujarat, ahead of the crucial elections to the 17th Lok Sabha.

“All 51 members of the CWC are coming here. They include Congress President Rahul Gandhi, his mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, AICC general secretaries, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Khadge, party’s other national office-bearers, senior leaders and the Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled States,” Manish Doshi, Gujarat Congress spokesman, told BusinessLine here on Monday.

The CWC meeting will be followed by a massive public meeting in Adalaj area of the city where about five lakh people are expected to be present, he said.

Major outreach effort

The event is being seen as the biggest outreach effort of the Congress in recent times, in a State where it has been out of power since 1995.

The CWC meeting will be held at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial building in the Shahibaug area of Ahmedabad. The BJP has been accusing the Congress of “ignoring” the Iron Man of India and trying to wrest his legacy. Prior to the commencement of the meeting, the Congress leaders will participate in an all-religion prayer at the Gandhi Ashram on the banks of Sabarmati River.

By holding the CWC meeting here, the party hopes to galvanise its cadres and improve its performance: in the 2017 Assembly elections, it won 77 seats in the 182-member House, reducing the BJP’s tally to just 99 for the first time since 1995.

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